In football they say the quarterback gets an unfair amount of the blame and the credit

[NJmaverick]

I think that also goes for the President and in particular this oil spill disaster. In many ways the oil disaster mirrors the Titanic Disaster of over 100 years ago. Man's reach exceeded his technological grasp. Just as the people involved with the Titanic thought their ship unsinkable and sailed it faster than detection and communications technology allowed, man has pushed drilling to depths greater than our understanding and technological ability would allow us to safely drill.

So in this case our President is shouldering an unfair amount of blame and being the easy target for growing frustration. The simple truth of the matter is that we (the human race) are simply incapable of stopping the leak any quicker than it currently being done. The President could have taken over the operations, but the government lacks the means, ability or experience to not only do better, but more than likely they would have made things much worse.

The sheer volume of the leaking oil has also overwhelmed our (the nation) ability to effectively or significantly contain it. Those are the simple truths that are not welcome by most Americans. We are the nation of the quick fix, the fast food nation, the ones that think microwave ovens are too slow and often have the attention span of a gerbil. We are not use to being told something can't be done or can't be done quickly enough for our instant gratification.

Now that leads us back to the before it happened situation. Sure the MMS was a mess and the President could have pushed the reforms of the agency Bush all but gutted, with his hated of all things regulatory, but even that had limits. Anyone that has worked in a company or organization knows you can't simply fire all the people one day and bring in an entirely new staff the next. The new people wouldn't know what was going on, where anything was or how to get the organization to do what needed to be done. Unfortunately our President is burdened with a government that has all but been ruined by 8 years of Bush appointments and mismanagement. I guess it's to be expected that people who openly profess a hatred for government and regulation would do a terrible job running both of these things and be prone to corruption. Still it takes time to repair such deep rooted problems and to change the culture of so many agencies. Beyond that it's not like the President's plate isn't beyond over flowing, it's not like he is walking around the White House looking for things to do.

So realistically what could the President have done to stop this crisis from happening? The only thing he could have done is declare an emergency and stop all off shore drilling. It's doubtful that the President even has the authority to take such actions. If he could do it, what would have happened? While 10%-15% of the US would cheer such actions the massive loss of jobs and the spiking of oil prices would have had most of the Country sharpening their pitch forks and getting their torches ready to storm the White House. So while the President's staff could have moved quicker on MMS reform the bottom line is it is highly doubtful there were any politically practical means to stop this disaster from happening when it did.

[mix]

1. unrec

Just say no to personality based politics and consider the interests of the country first for once.

[NJmaverick]

4. Do you have a reason for your unrec, beyond not liking the President?

at least that appears to be your reasoning, based on the little you posted.

[mix]

8. Putting the interests of the president over those of the country;

Your cheap smears of critics of the administration (You don't LIKE him!); and the rancid defeatism at the heart of defending Obama's dithering (There is nothing we can do, alas.).

[NJmaverick]

10. I am not putting anyone's interests ahead of anyone elses

this was an observation about the way the world works and the realities of the situation. Although I have to wonder what drives you to post scathing and unfounded criticism of me for posting the truth.

[Captain Hilts]

2. It's not about the President. It's about the wildlife. nt

[NJmaverick]

6. No this is OP is about the President

this disaster has many aspects and I am talking about one of them- The President

[Captain Hilts]

9. I'm glad to see that you see this as a disaster.

[NJmaverick]

11. do you consider it a disaster? I thought that was pretty much a given

now I am not so sure...

[tranche]

3. I wouldn't want to run that comparison past Rush Limbaugh

Seriously though, good post. The thing about this is that people are going to jump up and down (as well they should). Dealing with this industry is going to take decades more. There are, what 15 thousand (probably more) wells out in the gulf of Mexico? To just deal with those will take 20 years or more. Then, to transition to electric vehicles? It's a good thing that Lithium deposit is sitting in Afghanistan, because I don't know how all those batteries would have been made. Point is, this is going to be a long and hard slog, moving away from oil and to boil the thing down to what Obama is doing today, or what he's saying in one night's speech is short sighted (as I'm sure everyone can agree). Obama and his energy policy can be judged a decade from now and I'm sure while there's a Democratic president in office we'll here from both sides of the coin (oil is killing us, and don't kill us by taking away our oil). I just hope he lays the path down in the right direction.

[depakid]

5. "Realistically what could the President have done to stop this crisis from happening?"

Dealt with the much publicized problems at the MMS prior to accelerating offshore drilling permits to record levels- and ensured that the appropriate inspections were being carried out.

It really was that simple- and there were tons of warnings ahead of time including those from the GAO, the inspector general- and this one just last year (from August -November 2009).

[NJmaverick]

7. I am pretty sure this well had already been started prior to President Obama entering office

so I am at a loss as too what your point is

[depakid]

12. I'm pretty damn sure that 16 months later it was THIS administration's responsibility

-and damn well ought to have been dealt with prior to ratifying and adopting Republican drilling policies.

Or, as mentioned, allowing Salazar to accelerate the reckless permitting and deployment of unsafe operations and uninspected rigs.

[NJmaverick]

13. I am pretty sure I discussed the realities of changing an agency's personel

as well as its culture. While 16 months may seem like a long time, the reality is that it's simply not enough to completely remake an agency that has been corrupted as deeply as Bush and company had corrupted them.

[depakid]

15. And I'm also damn certain that it could, should and would have been accomplished

by a competent, engaged and motivated administrator.

After all- isn't that what Michael Bromwich's just been hired to do?

[NJmaverick]

16. Look at the Org Chart

Ken Salazer has to find and appoint a deputy Secretary (assuming the White House didn't have one picked out > then he need to find and appoint and get approval from Congress to appoint Assist Secretary of Lands and Minerals Management and they have to be approved> Then that person has to find and appoint a head of MMS who has to be approved. Now that person appointed some 6+ months down the road needs to learn their department and come up with a game plan as to how to fix things (this can take months of study). You might balk at the idea of studying the problem. However change with out direction doesn't lead to improvement. So once that correction plan is put into place, it takes time to implement. So you can see it's neither a simple or a quick process to fix something like MMMS

[depakid]

20. These people sit at Salazar's discretion- and their malfeasance and errors of omission

were well know- and in several cases, quite notorious.

This is a losing argument for the administration, particularly in light of the cynical March 31 triangulation.

My bet is that Obama knows this all too well himself, and has lost a considerable amount of sleep over it, which might explain why he came out so flat last night.

[treestar]

18. Hindsight is 20.20

The economy was in a shambles and that took priority. The government is also very large and complex and a lot of it goes on from President to President without their being much involved in it.

I wonder what kind of job you do? In mine, there is always something more that could have been done had something gone wrong. I envy people with jobs so simple, sometimes, that they can claim there is no excuse for less than perfection and that ever possible contingency could not be foreseen.

And anyway, it already happened, so none of this helps.

[depakid]

19. Risk assessment and forseeable catastrophic consequences aren't well suited for hindsight

[zipplewrath]

14. Welcome back

The degree to which I agree with you might surprise you. The analogy to the quarterback, or the head coach, or whatever is a good one. They do tend to get blamed for things that really weren't of their doing. And they get credit for things which are really "team" efforts, or even the extrodinary effort of a subordinate.

Of course, one can look at their salaries and suggest that's part of what they get paid for.

They are the head of a team. And part of that job is to lead the team. Part of that job is to guide that team in its training and planning, well before the superbowl. Some quarterbacks see is as a year round job and make calls to recruits, work with receivers even in the off season to develop timing and the understanding of the passing routes. They can be disciplinarians, on the field, on the sidelines, and in the hotels and after hours. The lead in ways far beyond their natural talents and physical skills.

And when the team is going badly, they can take the blame. That blame extends beyond the field. Yes, the receiver blew the route. Did he work with the receiver in the off season? Did he know that the guy tended to blow that route? Did the guy blow the route because he partied too long last night? i.e. was there a way that the blown route was a concievable "knowable" before he threw the pass?

Often we set unrealistically high expectations for the quartebacks. Of course, they know this, and they cash the checks anyway. Obama asked to run. Other people were willing. There were other choices. He's cashing the checks. It comes with the territory.

By the by, he could have "stopped this mess" in the first place if there had been more frequent over sight ON SITE, and that wouldn't have required him to "stop all drilling". There are thousands of contruction sites all over the country that get VERY frequent inspections prior to moving on. The inspections are to make sure that the proper procedures were being followed. That didn't happen here. All the safety regulations in the world won't make drilling "safe" if there aren't inspections to keep the folks drilling from cutting corners.

[treestar]

17. We all use the stuff, too

Most of us are driving around in cars. Not that one person can change things alone, but face it, most people don't want to change it. It will take a long time. In the meantime, accidents can happen and we risked it because we need the stuff.